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It was Harry and Meghan who wowed Aussie crowds last year. Now, it’s another British royal’s turn to impress.
The Queen’s granddaughter, Zara Tindall is somewhat fittingly in Queensland for the Pacific Fair Magic Millions Polo on Sunday. The event kicks off the very glitzy The Star Gold Coast Magic Millions Carnival, a week-long celebration of all things equine.
The daughter of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips and 17th in line to the British throne, Zara missed last year’s Magic Millions because she was pregnant with her second daughter, Lena Elizabeth, who was born on June 18. Zara and her former rugby star husband, Mike Tindall welcomed their first daughter, Mia in Jan. 2014.
Zara, 37, may be royalty, but she doesn’t have an official royal title. Titles can only be given to a monarch’s grandchildren through their sons, not daughters. The Queen did offer a courtesy title to Zara and her older brother, Peter, when they were born. However, their mother Anne famously turned down the offer. Not that Zara seems too upset that she’s not a princess. “I’m very lucky that both my parents decided to not use the title and we grew up and did all the things that gave us the opportunity to do,” she told UK newspaper, The Times in 2015.
In her teens, she was described as a royal rebel after having her tongue pierced. Years later, she met her now husband, Mike at Sydney’s Manly Wharf bar. “It kind of went from there,” Zara told 60 Minutes in 2012,
of their encounter.
A sporting champion in her own right, the accomplished equestrian won a silver medal at the London 2012 Olympics. Now, she’s looking forward to taking the field at the Magic Millions polo event, where she’ll line up against celebrated Argentine polo player, Nacho Figueras.
“While I enjoyed watching Nacho from the sidelines last year, I much prefer to be amongst the action and am looking forward to matching up against him,” Zara says. Figueras is one of the drawcards at this year’s Magic Millions. Former Australian polo team captain, Rob Archibald, says: “We’re very privileged to have him (Figueras) here for Magic Millions.”
Figueras is passionate about the sport, saying “I love the game, I love the horses, I love the breeding of the horses and I love that – as Winston Churchill said – it is a ‘passport to the world.’”
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